The following list consists of recommended sources for expanding album articles that primarily or exclusively cover musical topics. This list is also merely a collection of suggestions, and other good sources may exist. Many of these sources include reviews or links to reviews that can be used to source critical reception sections in album articles, and to add ratings to the ((Album ratings)) template. This list is not exhaustive: Additional websites and print sources may also be used, provided they meet the criteria at Wikipedia:Reliable sources and WP:MOSALBUM#Critical reception. Specifically, reviews should be written by professional music journalists or DJs, or found within any online or print publication having a (paid or volunteer) editorial and writing staff (which excludes personal blogs), and must be from a source that is independent of the artist, record company, etc.
Note: While help in expanding this list is quite welcome, please don't add any items to the list before discussing it first on the talk page. Take a look into the project archives for examples of how it has been done in the past. For example here, here, or here.
Online and print
| Publication | Primary focus | Rating system | Country | Website | Back issues |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative Press | Rock, independent | 5-star scale:   
|
US | altpress |
[8] |
| American Songwriter | Singer-songwriter | 5-star scale:
|
US | americansongwriter |
|
| The A.V. Club | Popular music | Letter grade: B +/- | US | avclub |
|
| BBC Music Magazine | Classical, jazz, world | 5-star scale:
|
US | classical-music |
[9] |
| Billboard | Popular music | No formal scale | US | billboard |
|
| Blender | Popular music | 5-star scale:
|
US | blender |
[10] |
| Bluegrass Unlimited | Bluegrass, old-time | No formal scale | US | bluegrassmusic |
|
| Blurt | All genres | 5-star scale:
|
US | blurtmagazine |
|
| CCM Magazine | Christian - CCM, gospel, rock, heavy metal, hip hop, urban | 5-star scale: , older reviews letter grade: B +/-
|
US | ccmmagazine |
[11] |
| Chart/ChartAttack | Rock, alternative, indie | No formal rating system | Canada | chartattack |
|
| Chicago Tribune | All genres | 4-star scale:
|
US | chicagotribune |
|
| Robert Christgau | Rock, popular music | ((Rating-Christgau)): C+,  or 
|
US | robertchristgau |
|
| Christianity Today | Christian - all genres | 5-star scale:
|
US | christianitytoday |
[12] |
| Classical Recordings Quarterly | Classical | No formal scale | US | crq |
[13] |
| CMJ | Popular music | No formal scale | US | cmj |
|
| Complex | Hip hop, R&B, pop, electronic, rock | No formal scale | US | complex |
|
| Country Weekly | Country | No formal scale | US | countryweekly |
[14] |
| Crawdaddy! | Rock | No formal scale | US | pastemagazine |
|
| Decibel | Heavy metal | 10-star scale:   
|
US | decibelmagazine |
[15] |
| Down Beat | Jazz, blues, R&B | 5-star scale: , online reviews have no formal scale
|
US | downbeat |
|
| Entertainment Weekly | All genres | Letter grade: B +/- | US | ew |
|
| Exclaim! | Rock, independent | 10-point scale: 7/10 or no formal scale | Canada | exclaim |
|
| Fact | All genres | 5-star scale: (convert from disc)
|
UK | factmag |
|
| The Fader | Caribbean, electronic, experimental, hip hop, psych folk, R&B, rock | No formal scale | US | thefader |
[16] |
| Filter | All genres | 100-percent scale: 75% | US | filtermagazine |
|
| The Fly | All genres | 5-star scale:
|
UK | mamacolive |
|
| Gramophone | Classical | No formal scale | UK | gramophone |
[17] |
| Hip Hop Connection | Hip hop | 5-point scale: 4/5 | UK | ||
| HM | Christian - rock, heavy metal | 5-star scale: , some older reviews 10-point scale or no formal scale
|
US | hmmagazine |
[18] |
| Jazz Journal | Jazz | 5-star scale:
|
UK | jazzjournal |
|
| JazzTimes | Jazz | No formal scale | US | jazztimes |
[19] |
| Juice | Rock, heavy metal, surf and skate music | No formal scale | US | juicemagazine |
|
| Kerrang! | Rock, heavy metal | 5-star scale: (converted from "K"s)
|
UK | kerrang |
|
| Latin Beat Magazine | Latin | No formal scale | US | latinbeatmagazine |
[20] |
| Limelight | Classical, jazz, pop, world | 5-star scale:
|
Australia | limelightmagazine |
[21] |
| Living Blues | Blues | No formal scale | US | livingblues |
[22] |
| Los Angeles Times | All genres | 4-star scale:
|
US | latimes |
|
| Loud and Quiet | All genres | 10-point scale: 7/10 or no formal scale | UK | loudandquiet |
|
| Magnet | Rock | 10-star scale:
|
US | magnetmagazine |
|
| Metal Hammer | Hard rock, heavy metal | 10-point scale: 7/10 | UK | metalhammer |
[23] |
| Mixmag | EDM, Snythpop | 5-star scale: (convert from headphones)
|
UK | mixmag |
|
| Mojo | Rock, popular music | 5-star scale:
|
UK | mojo4music |
[24] |
| The New York Times | All genres | No formal scale | US | nytimes |
[25] |
| NME | Rock, popular music | 10-point scale: 7/10 | UK | nme |
[26] (digital) |
| Now | All genres | 5-star scale: (convert from N's)
|
Canada | ((URL|example.com|optional display text))
|
|
| Opera | Opera | No formal scale | UK | opera |
[27] |
| Opera Canada | Opera | Canada | operacanada |
[28] (digital) | |
| Opera News | Opera | No formal scale | US | operanews |
[29] |
| Paste | Rock, alternative | 10-point scale: 7.6/10 | US | pastemagazine |
[30] |
| Q | Popular music | 5-star scale:
|
UK | qthemusic |
|
| Record Collector | All genres | 5-star scale:
|
UK | recordcollectormag |
|
| Rock Hard | Heavy metal | 10-point scale: 7.5/10 | Germany | rockhard |
[31] |
| Rock Sound | Rock | 10-point scale: 7/10 | UK | rocksound |
[32] |
| Rolling Stone | Rock, popular music | 5-star scale:
|
US | rollingstone |
[33] |
| Revolver | Hard rock, heavy metal | 5-point scale: 3/5 | US | revolvermag |
[34] |
| The Skinny | All genres | 5-star scale:
|
UK | theskinny |
|
| Sonic Seducer | Dark culture | 10-point sale or no formal scale | Germany | sonic-seducer |
[35] |
| The Source | Hip hop | 5-star scale:
|
US | thesource |
|
| Spin | Rock, hip hop, alternative, indie, underground | 10-point scale: 7/10 | US | spin |
[36] |
| This Is Fake DIY | All genres | 10-point scale: 7/10 | UK | thisisfakediy |
|
| Triple J | Popular music | No formal scale | Australia | abc |
|
| Uncut | Popular music | Older: 5-star scale: Newer: 10-point scale: 7/10 |
UK | uncut |
|
| Under the Radar | Indie | 10-star scale:
|
US | undertheradarmag |
|
| URB | Electronic, hip hop, urban | No formal scale | UK | urb |
|
| USA Today | All genres | 4-star scale:
|
US | usatoday |
|
| Vibe | R&B, hip hop | 5-star scale:
|
US | vibe |
|
| The Wire | Avant-garde, modern classical, jazz, hip hop, electronic | No formal scale | UK | thewire |
|
| XXL | Hip hop | 5-star scale: (converted from clothing size)
|
US | xxlmag |
Online only
| Publication | Primary focus | Rating system | Country | Website | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AbsolutePunk | Rock, alternative, indie | Percentage scale: 93% | US | absolutepunk |
|
| AllHipHop | Hip hop | 10-point scale: 7/10 | US | allhiphop |
|
| All About Jazz | Jazz, blues | No formal scale | US | allaboutjazz |
|
| Allmusic | All genres | 5-star scale:
|
US | allmusic |
Do not indicate the "Album Pick" designation, do not use genre sidebar |
| Alternative Addiction | Rock, independent, underground | 5-star scale:
|
US | alternativeaddiction |
|
| BBC Music | All genres | No formal scale | UK | bbc |
Do not use mirrors of Wikipedia |
| Blabbermouth.net | Hard rock, heavy metal | 10-point scale: 7.5/10 | US | roadrunnerrecords |
News items should not be used for BLP statements, and if another source can be found for information given, use that source instead. Reviews are acceptable for use in all articles. |
| The BoomBox | Hip hop, R&B | No formal scale | US | theboombox |
|
| The Boot | Country | No formal scale | US | theboot |
|
| Canoe.ca | All genres | 5-star scale:
|
Canada | jam |
Portal for Sun Media newspapers in Canada |
| Classical Net | Classical | No formal scale | US | classical |
|
| Consequence of Sound | Popular music | 5-star scale:
|
US | consequenceofsound |
|
| Drowned in Sound | Rock, independent | 10-point scale: 7/10 | UK | drownedinsound |
Only use staff reviews |
| ExploreMusic | All genres | No formal rating system | Canada | exploremusic |
|
| Melodic.net | All genres | 5-star scale:
|
Sweden | melodic |
|
| Metal Storm | Heavy metal | 10-point scale: 7.6/10.0 or
no formal scale |
Estonia | metalstorm |
Do not use guest reviews, recognizable by a tag, or staff reviews from before 2009 |
| MTV | Popular music | No formal rating system | US | mtv |
|
| MusicOMH | All genres | 5-star scale: or no formal scale
|
UK | musicomh |
|
| Noisecreep | Hard rock, heavy metal | No formal rating system | US | noisecreep |
|
| NPR Music | All genres | No formal scale | US | npr |
|
| Pitchfork Media | Popular music, independent | 10-point scale: 7.6/10.0 | US | pitchfork |
|
| PopMatters | Popular music | 10-point scale: 7/10 | International | popmatters |
No formal rating for reviews published before 2005 |
| Punknews.org | Punk, heavy metal, independent | 5-star scale:
|
US | punknews |
Use staff reviews only, recognizable by a tag |
| Roughstock | Country | 5-star scale:
|
US | roughstock |
|
| Slant Magazine | Popular music | 5-star scale:
|
US | slantmagazine |
|
| Spinner | Rock | No formal rating system | US | spinner |
|
| Sputnikmusic | All genres | 5-point scale: 3.5/5 | US | sputnikmusic |
Use staff and emeritus reviews only, recognizable by tag |
| Stylus Magazine | Popular music | Letter grade: B +/- | US | stylusmagazine |
|
| VH1 | Popular music | No formal rating system | US | vh1 |
Metacritic
Metacritic can be used to give an aggregate score of an album's reception. However, avoid citing the review excerpts listed below the aggregate score; Instead, seek out the reviews in full and cite them individually. ((Album ratings)) has a |MC= parameter that can be used to display Metacritic's aggregate score for an album. When describing the score in prose, be sure to note that the score is an aggregate and how many reviews it is based on. For example:
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 46/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
The Devil's Rain received mixed reviews from critics: At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 46 out of 100, which indicates "mixed or average reviews," based on 11 reviews.[1]
- ^ a b "The Devil's Rain – Misfits". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-07-03.
((cite web)): Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help)
Other sources
A physical album's liner notes are generally a good place to find writing and production credits for a personnel section. Some records are also released with additional writing that may be helpful with an article's recording and/or composing section. The album notes can be properly sourced with the ((Cite album-notes)) template.
As long as the information being contributed is not overly promotional, unduly self-serving or biased, the artist or record label's website may be acceptable sources. These sites often provide detailed information about an artist's discography. However, since many band websites are recreated entirely upon the release of a new studio album, URL's or information may be moved or deleted, and articles are left with the phenomenon known as link rot. To avoid this, try to find a different source with the same information, or web archive of the original source. For assistance with web archiving, see Wikipedia:Using the Wayback Machine.
If the artist in question was subject to any form of recorded audio or video in the possible form of a television documentary or an informational DVD/VHS, this may be an acceptable source of information. To cite information from a source like this, use either ((cite video)) or ((cite episode)), whichever is most applicable.
If an artist or recording act has existed for a significant period of time and/or has made a great impact on their scene or music in general, it's likely that someone has written a book on the topic. An easy way to search through books is with a quick Google Books search. Google Books will provide links of several possible locations to obtain a copy, and will sometimes provide select passages of the book for previewing. To cite a book as a source, use the ((cite books)) template.
Non-English reviews
- For more, see Wikipedia:Verifiability#Non-English sources
English-language reviews are preferred, as languages other than English are not understood by a large number of readers. However, if few reviews exist, reviews in languages other than English may be included, especially if the language is especially relevant to the album in question. Reviews in any language must meet the above guidelines, including Wikipedia:Reliable sources and WP:ALBUMS#Reception.
Christian music
For sources pertaining primarily or specifically to Christian music of all genres, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Christian music/Sources and Wikipedia:WikiProject Christian music/Music review sources.
Sources to avoid
Websites with user-generated content should never be used as sources since they have little or no editorial oversight. This may include other general wiki-style sites such as Wikia and Fuse.tv, and album-related sites such as Discogs or Rate Your Music. This is also important to be cautious of on websites that publish user-submitted album reviews. For sites such as AbsolutePunk and Sputnikmusic, be sure to select only the staff-written reviews.
Self-published sources are generally unacceptable as references on Wikipedia. An artist's social networking site, such as Facebook or Twitter, in addition to personal blogs and forum posts, should largely be avoided. If the information being added from one of these websites is truly notable enough for inclusion, a publication will likely report about it.[1][2]
Online retailers such as iTunes and Amazon.com should also be avoided. It can be seen as inappropriate to directly link to a site where one can purchase the subject in question. Wikipedia's role should not be used to advance the sale of an album. Generally speaking, all of the information found on online retailers can be found at a number of other sites. Track listings, release dates, record label, album covers and track lengths can all be found at Allmusic. The content and reviews found on online retailers may also be biased in that these sources want you to buy their product.
Allmusic's genre sidebar should generally be avoided if better sources are available. Previous discussions at WP:ALBUMS and RSN have evinced that they can be incongruous with the reviewer's prose, which should take precedent over the sidebar (e.g. Allmusic's sidebar classifies Rhythm Killers as "reggae", while the reviewer observes "no reggae in sight").
List of unreliable sources (with link to relevant discussion)
- Amazon.com
- Audiopinions.net Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 110#Is http:.2F.2Faudiopinions.net reliable.3F
- www.bnrmetal.com
- Dead Press [[37]]
- Discogs Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Albums/Archive 32#Discogs.com
- Encyclopaedia Metallum
- Epinions
- www.firestream.net
- www.grande-rock.com/
- www.themetalcritic.com/
- Metalmusicarchives.com Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 110#www.metalmusicarchives.com
- www.metal-observer.com
- Metal Storm's guest reviews, recognizable by a tag, or staff reviews from before 2009
- www.metalwani.com
- Prog Archives
- PropertyOfZack.com Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Albums/Archive 43#Add PropertyOfZack.com as a legitimate album review and music news site
- Punknews.org's non-staff reviews
- Rate Your Music Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Albums/Archive 33#Rate Your Music
- www.seaoftranquility.org
- Sputnikmusic's non-staff reviews
- soundofmetal.se
- Thrashhits.com Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 123#Thrash Hits.com, Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Albums/Archive 32#ThrashHits.com
- Ultimate Guitar Archive
- www.thetunemusic.com
Reviews and ratings which only summarize other reviews and ratings should not be included either:
- Artistdirect's reviews from Allmusic
See also
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums/Article body
- WP:GOODCHARTS – list of recommended sources for international album charting
- Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
- Wikipedia:Offline sources – an essay in support of print media as sources on Wikipedia
- Wikipedia:Citing sources
Footnotes
- ^ On December 11, 2010 Rise Against tweeted that they were almost finished recording their new album.[1] A day later, Alternative Press and PunkNews.org published this as news citing Rise Against's tweet as their source.[2][3]
- ^ Following the death of their bassist, Paul Gray, heavy metal group Slipknot were unsure if they would continue as a band. A series of tweets from their lead singer Cory Taylor were posted about his feelings on the matter, and published shortly thereafter by Blabbermouth.net, Noisecreep, Gun Shy Assassin and Chart.[4][5][6][7]